Abstract
BACKGROUND: According to the guidelines, endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is the technique of choice for the diagnosis of mediastinal involvement in lung cancer; it is also useful for other mediastinal malignancies and benign pathology. Nevertheless, there is still discussion about whether to perform it under general anesthesia or under conscious sedation. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data of all patients who underwent EBUS-TBNA under conscious sedation with up to 1 mg/kg of meperidine and up to 0.15 mg/kg of midazolam in the Interventional Pulmonology Unit of the Azienda USL-IRCCS Santa Maria Nuova of Reggio Emilia during 2 consecutive years. Demographic data, indication for the procedure, duration, number of lymph node sampled, number of passes per station, diagnostic yield, drugs dosage, questionnaire score, and complications were collected. RESULTS: A total of 302 patients underwent EBUS-TBNA, and 68% of the patients were males and the mean age was 65 ± 13 years old. The average duration of procedures was 24.4 minutes and the mean dosage of drugs was 4.32 ± 1.52 mg for midazolam and 50.86 ± 13.71 mg for meperidine. The mean number of lymph nodes sampled per patient was 1.75 ± 0.82, and each patient received an average of 4.71 ± 1.78 passes. A total of 90.7% of patients completed the procedures, 85% had adequate samples, and 94.4% of patients declared with Likert's questionnaire that they strongly agree to repeat the test if necessary. CONCLUSION: EBUS-TBNA performed under conscious sedation with meperidine and midazolam is feasible and well-tolerated and has a similar diagnostic yield of that reported in literature.